For the third time in a row, Liam has qualified on the front row of the grid qualifying P1 in Assen, a track that he has never raced on in his life.
Raindrops speckled the drivers windscreens as they took to the track for the final 15 minutes of qualifying.
The rain was not enough to cause any disturbance on track as the grip and heat was already driven into the surface.
Lawson claimed provisional pole with 9 minutes remaining in the session with a time of 1.32.186 which was a full 2 seconds quicker than his fastest time yesterday in free practice 2.
American driver Dev Gore ran into trouble as his car lost control coming out of the chicane causing him to speed off into the grass and then eventually nudging the barriers.
This caused a red flag which meant drivers all had to return to the pits. After a short break, enough time for the stranded Audi to be collected, the cars returned to track with roughly 6 minutes remaining.
Just as the cars were ready to return to the track, championship leader Kelvin Van der Linde ran into trouble.
He made contact with the side of Phillip Ellis exiting the pit lane causing the South African to abandon his out lap and return to the pits to replace the affected tyre.
The current standings leader was eventually back out on track but with less than 2 mintues to go he had to rush to heat his tyres up and blast out a final flying lap.
After a slightly rushed lap, Van der Linde went fastest enough to secure 5th place on the grid.
It seemed as though Albon was going to take that position away from Kelvin but Alex’s lap was deleted in the last minute for exceeding track limits. Meaning the other AF Corse driver will start all the way down in 14th.
Additionally, due to Lawson’s fantastic results at the previous round, he must carry 25 kg of added success ballast for race 1.
Lawson was excited about claiming pole but explained in the post session interview that the added weight would not be as easy to manage as it was last race.
He explained further:
“It is definitely gonna be tough due to the added weight. We will see what we can do from P1 but realistically the team has said a finish in the top 5 would be positive.”
“We are trying not to focus on that because going into today we knew it was about maximising qualifying and claiming those 3 championship points was ideal.”
“For the race, the tyre dig is really high here so we are gonna have to look after the tyres as much as we can with that added weight.”
Lawson definitely has more pace left in the car and time to shed off the lap as was visible when he set two purple (best) sectors going into the last minute but abandoned the lap knowing he had already done enough with his previosuly set lap.
Can Lawson add another victory to his name and pull off the hat-trick win?
Featured image source: twitter.com/liamlawson30
